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The giant iron robot inside the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan.Moment Editorial/Getty ImagesPlenty of human generated content, like ThroughLine Games puzzle platformer Forgotton AnneThe ongoing coverage of GPT-4os ability to Ghibli-fy almost everything, raises questions about the ethics and potential of generative AI. The images may look great, but using machines to reproduce an art style associated with loving, painstaking, human labor, has left many feeling pessimistic about the future of the arts.GPT users arent the only ones inspired by Ghibli-esque animation. Human creators have long taken inspiration from Ghibli, including ThroughLine Games, a Danish company whose debut game, Forgotton Anne, was ubiquitously compared to studio Ghibli.Forgotton Anne is a 2.5D puzzle platformer known for its stunning anime-style graphics. The comparison between Forgotton Anne and Studio Ghibli is typically positiverather than view the similarity as derivative, most reviewers view ThroughLineThe game has also been praised for its story. Forgotton Anne takes place in The Forgotten Lands, a place where objects go when they are forgotten. You play as Anne, one of two humans in this world, who acts as an enforcer, punishing the objects who are rebelling against your authoritarian rule in order to maintain order. Over the course of the game, Anne, and the player, come to realize the unethical cruelty of her actions.Play Puzzles & Games on ForbesPlayers and reviewers have read the game as commenting on authoritarianism and fascism. In an interview with Game Pilgrim, the CEO of ThroughLine Games, Alfred Nguyen, notes that the games dark themes are intended to offer commentary on issues including consumerism, surveillance, and what it means to be human.While Forgotton Anne received positive reviews for its art and storytelling, the game also received criticism for its clunky, uninspired mechanics. The puzzles and platforming are forgettable and unoriginal.Like most pieces of art, Forgotten Anne is directly inspired by many different preexisting artworks. In addition to Ghibli, Nguyen talks about how the game was inspired by Guillermo del Toros Pans Labyrinth, and Hans Christian Andersons The Little Mermaid. The puzzle and platforming components are similar to countless other games that came before.And, like most pieces of art, sometimes Forgotten Anne is successful in borrowing from its inspirations and sometimes its not. When such acts are successful, we typically call them creative. When they arent not, we call them derivative.Human creativity is often a matter of combining or recycling a wide assortment of influences. Shakespeare borrowed plots, ideas, and sometimes exact phrasing from a wide variety of sources including Plutarchs Lives, Montaignes Essays, and the plays of his contemporaries.The fact that humans dont create art in a vacuum, makes me skeptical of recent dismissive claims that AI cant match genuine creativity. Its true that AI models, like GPT-4o, are predictive--the content they produce is based on statistical probabilities in their training data. But, arguably, aspects of human creativityincluding our ability to blend and pull from multiple sources of inspirationwork in much the same way.Because of this, I think it is entirely possible that generative AI models will, in several years time, be able to make a game much like Forgotten Anne. But I wouldnt want to play it.Games make statements and argumentssometimes these statements are artistic, political, and ethical. Forgotten Anne, for example, makes arguments against authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Its story encourages us to treat each other with kindness. What would a Ghibli-esque game about authoritarianism, kindness, and the human condition, mean coming from an AI model?When we play games, much as when we engage with any other storytelling media, we are entering a dialogue with the creators. This might result in players feeling recognized or seen. Or it might result in players vehemently disagreeing with a games content or messaging. Either way, we are engaging with people who have put their beliefs, ideas, and talent into a piece of art. Ideally, this is something consumers will continue to support.Forgotten Annes sequel, Forgotlings, has a free demo available on Steam. The game releases on Steam on June 12, 2025.

Surround ADAS Provides Safety Features for Mass-Market VehiclesMobileyeLaunched in conjunction with Valeo (a Tier 1 automotive supplier), the Surround ADAS functionality makes it possible to provide affordable advanced ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) for automotive OEMs like Volkswagen and others. It provides features like hands-free driving on approved highway sections, traffic jam assist, hazard detection, parking assist, driver monitoring, and 360-degree emergency assist. Importantly, the system is designed to be future-proof in hardware, with OTA (Over the Air) software updates as regulations change and more data is analyzed to expand the operating zones. Surround ADAS is strictly for highway driving with an L2 and designation (human driver always in control, hands-free, eyes=on, mind-on).Mobileye provided a comprehensive view of its autonomy platform at CES 2025. The company has a current market capitalization of ~$14B and revenues of $1.8B/year (easily the leading player in the pure play autonomy landscape). Its customers include ~50 automotive OEMs who use their ADAS based solutions (cameras, chips, software) across 1200 car models and 190M cars. At CES 2025, it announced collaborations for L3 (hands-off, mind-off highway autonomy at prescribed speeds with human driver able to take control within 10 seconds) and L4 (no human driver required in specific Operational Design Domain or ODD) autonomy solutions. Volkswagen is one of Mobileyes customers across multiple models (VW ID Buzz, Audi, etc.) and advertised the L4-capable ID Buzz vehicle.Valeo is a leading automotive Tier 1 supplier with a strong focus on autonomy and SDV (Software Defined Vehicles). Headquartered in France with revenues of ~$25B/year, it counts major automotive OEMs as its customers, traditionally for hardware subsystems for electrification, driving assistance, lighting and inside cabin solutions. Products include mechanical, electrical, sensing and electronic components spanning from motors and lighting assemblies to ultrasonic, camera, radar and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors. The goal is to continue transforming and upgrading its product offerings as the era of autonomy and software defined vehicles (SDV) and AoT (Autonomy of Things) revolution proceeds takes. SDV is a response to OEM needs to constantly invent and upgrade features for a new generation of consumers who expect a the same car hardware to deliver improved performance and features over its lifetime (smart-phones anyone ?).Mobileye Surround ADASThe heart of the system is the EyeQ6 High System-on-Chip (SoC), developed by Mobileye to support multiple ADAS and autonomy applications (Figure 1):Figure 1: Mobileye Surround ADAS SystemMobileyeIt fuses data from two 8 MP (front and rear) and four 3 MP (corner) cameras, and five radar units, providing 360 perception. The EyeQ processor which is part of the ECU integrates sensor and its proprietary REM (Road Experience Management) data which uses mapping and traffic data crowd-sourced information. This is used to issue steering and braking instructions to the ECU. L2 features like lane keeping, automatic lane changes and speed control (from 0 - 80 mph) for highway driving (human driver is always in the loop) are provided (see Figure 2):Figure 2: Surround ADAS FeaturesMobileyeValeo Performs the Tier 1 Supplier RoleMobileye is the Tier 2 supplier for the Surround ADAS system. Valeo is the Tier 1 supplier, responsible for integrating the EyeQ 6 chip and software into its ECU, along with integration of Mobileye approved camera and radar units. Valeo also integrates its self-parking capabilities into the ECU. This model allows for a single supply chain which ensures simplicity for Volkswagen, and allows each partner to do what it specializes in - Mobileye as a semiconductor and perception software supplier and Valeo as a provider of camera and radar sensors, the ECU electronics, self-parking capabilities and integration support for different car platforms. This results in lower costs which makes it possible to offer higher levels of ADAS capability in mass-manufactured, lower cost vehicles. Both companies use their software capabilities to offer OTA updates as capabilities and regulatory requirement evolve.Higher Levels of L2 and L3 CapabilitiesMobileye offers different level of capabilities for ADAS and autonomy capabilities. As shown in Figure 3, while Surround ADAS offers hands-free highway driving and advanced collision avoidance, the SuperVision capability offers more advanced and premium L2 features, providing highway and urban driving capabilities and point-to-point navigation (within a defined ODD or Operational Design Domain). SuperVision uses two EyeQ6 chips. Mobileye Chauffeur is more advanced, and provides L3 functionality (Hands-off and Mind-off). It uses next-generation versions of the EyeQ6 SoCs, its internally developed imaging radar sensors and externally sourced LiDAR sensor from Innoviz Technologies.Figure 3: Different Levels of L2 and L3 Functionality Offered by MobileyeMobileyeThe roadmap in Figure 3 makes it possible for OEMs to have a full spectrum of solutions to make higher levels of active safety and automation available to both premium and mass-manufactured vehicles.Dan Galves is Mobileyes Chief Communications Officer. According to Mr. Galves, while as a Tier 2 supplier for the Surround ADAS offering, Mobileye has access to all the video and low bandwidth data generated by the OEM during the testing phase. It also expects to have access to video data in operation during disengagement incidents. For SuperVision and Chauffeur, Mobileye will function as the Tier 1 supplier. These systems will also be designed with OTA software upgradeability, and allow access to all the crowd-sourced data to further improve its autonomous capabilities towards L4 and L5 driving. Per Galves, Mobileye Surround ADAS represents the next generation of ADAS, delivering advanced safety and highway hands-off driving to mass-market vehicles, through a vertically integrated solution running on our EyeQ6 High SoC on a single ECU. It leverages Mobileyes autonomous vehicle development in a cost-efficient package, enabling automakers to address emerging consumer demands and ensure alignment with expanding safety regulations.Democratizing safety and convenience features in mass-manufactured, lower price models provides volume efficiencies to the supply chain and enables costs reduction in the premium version of ADAS and autonomy features. Software upgradeability is also transferable between these car segments, leading to economies of scale and faster verification and deployment cycles.

What just happened? Despite still being one of the most popular login methods, developers are gradually replacing passwords with newer, more robust authentication technologies. The "next generation" of online security is coming slowly but steadily, and Microsoft has now decided there is room for a significant redesign of the entire login experience. Microsoft recently announced that it is rolling out a new authentication experience for over one billion consumers. The redesign focuses on more secure login screens with a modern look. While there is a big focus on the GUI, many users will find the new authentication methods relatively standard.Microsoft's product management director, Robin Goldstein, said that most Microsoft account holders will see the updated sign-in experience by the end of April. The new Fluent 2 UI will help users transition between different authentications and Microsoft products effectively.Goldstein's blog post provides a detailed description of the hows and whys of the new interface design. Her team moved to reduce the number of "concepts" per screen throughout the authentication process to reduce the "cognitive load" on users. The streamlined experience is faster, with reordered steps and a more logical flow.Developers reduced distractions, as well, for a more focused process. The new UI scales well between devices, offering a similar experience on a large desktop display or small smartphone screens. Direct user feedback fueled some changes, including theme support and a dark mode based on user preference.The Fluent 2 design allowed Redmond to depart from the company's traditional product-centric concepts and adapt a new "unmistakably Microsoft" look and feel. Many PC users, including myself, may disagree. Microsoft's product-centric focus is part of what made it the successful technology giant it is today. // Related StoriesGoldstein also noted that the new authentication experience is more secure, with a stronger emphasis on "passwordless" logins and a passkey-first experience. Passkeys are inherently more secure and three times faster than passwords and should be used whenever possible.The new login UI is already available to Xbox users, who beta-tested the web and mobile versions in February. Microsoft will gradually update the rest of its products and services in a staggered rollout between now and the end of April. Users can expect to see the changes on the web and mobile apps first, then Windows.

A hot potato: With black/blue screens of death and system instability still affecting owners of GeForce RTX 4000 and RTX 3000 graphics cards, some game developers are now advising users to avoid Nvidia's latest drivers or roll back to the December release. Since updating to Nvidia's 572.xx drivers, several RTX 40 and 30-series users have experienced problems with some new games, especially Inzoi and The First Berserker: Khazan. Issues include crashes, freezes, stuttering, and sudden frame drops.Inzoi developer Krafton wrote in its notes on graphics drivers that while it recommends RTX 50-series owners use the latest 572.83 driver, the same driver could cause frame drops and stuttering when playing the game on an RTX 40-series card.As such, it recommends using driver version 566.36 from December 2024. Any RTX 30-series owners experiencing issues are also recommended to use the older driver version.The First Berserker: Khazan developer Neople wrote an identical recommendation in its notes for the best gaming experience.The fact that developers of two very big recent games have been forced to issue these warnings illustrates just how widespread the problems have become.It was back in February when we first heard of issues impacting cards from Nvidia's RTX 50, 40, and 30 generations, with the Blackwell line being worst affected. They seemed to originate from Nvidia's 572.16 driver release, which enabled RTX 50 support. There were reports of some users getting around the problems by capping their display's refresh rate at 60Hz.One person wrote that rolling back to the 566.36 driver was the only way to fix the problems impacting his Asus RTX 4070 Ti Super TUF card, the symptoms of which included Cyberpunk 2077 crashing his entire PC. // Related StoriesNvidia confirmed that it was investigating the issues and would be releasing driver updates to address them, several of which have since been pushed out. While they seem to have fixed most of the problems impacting the RTX 5000 line, they haven't been as effective for older graphics cards. It led to several users accusing Nvidia of prioritizing its latest cards while ignoring issues affecting the Lovelace and Ampere series.With no sign of a fix on the horizon, those with previous-generation graphics cards experiencing the problems are becoming increasingly frustrated.

A new AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) study with hundreds of contributing AI researchers has been published this month, and the main takeaway is this: our current approach to AI is unlikely to lead us to artificial general intelligence.AI has been a buzzword for a good couple of years now, but artificial intelligence as a field of research has existed for many decades. Alan Turings famous Computing Machinery and Intelligence paper and the Turing test we still talk about today, for example, were published in 1950.Recommended VideosThe AI everyone talks about today was born from these decades of research but its also diverging from them. Rather than being a scientific pursuit, we now also have a deviating branch of artificial intelligence that you could call commercial AI.Efforts in commercial AI are led by big tech monopolies like Microsoft, Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon and their primary goal is to create AI products. This shouldnt have to be a problem, but at the moment, it seems it might be. Firstly, because most people never followed AI research until a couple of years ago, everything the average person knows about AI is coming from these companies, rather than the science community. The study covers this topic in the AI Perception vs. Reality chapter, with 79% of the scientists involved believing that the current perception of AI capabilities doesnt match the reality of AI research and development.In other words, what the general public thinks AI can do doesnt match what scientists think AI can do. The reason for this is as simple as it is unfortunate: when a big tech representative makes a statement about AI, its not a scientific opinion its product marketing. They want to hype up the tech behind their new products and make sure everyone feels the need to jump on this bandwagon. When Sam Altman or Mark Zuckerberg say software engineering jobs will be replaced by AI, for example, its because they want to influence engineers to learn AI skills and influence tech companies to invest in pricey enterprise plans. Until they start replacing their own engineers (and benefit from it), however, I personally wouldnt listen to a word they say on the topic. Its not just public perception that commercial AI is influencing, however. Study participants believe that the AI hype being manufactured by big tech is hurting research efforts. For example, 74% agree that the direction of AI research is being driven by the hype this is likely because research that aligns with commercial AI goals is easier to fund. 12% also believe that theoretical AI research is suffering as a result.So, how much of a problem is this? Even if big tech companies are influencing the kind of research we do, youd think the extremely large sums of money theyre pumping into the field should have a positive impact overall. However, diversity is key when it comes to research we need to pursue all kinds of different paths to have a chance at finding the best one.But big tech is only really focusing on one thing at the moment large language models. This extremely specific type of AI model is what powers just about all of the latest AI products, and figures like Sam Altman believe that scaling these models further and further (i.e. giving them more data, more training time, and more compute power) will eventually give us artificial general intelligence. This belief, dubbed the scaling hypothesis, says that the more power we feed an AI, the more its cognitive abilities will increase and the more its error rates will decrease. Some interpretations also say that new cognitive abilities will unexpectedly emerge. So, even though LLMs arent great at planning and thinking through problems right now, these abilities should emerge at some point. there is no wall Sam Altman (@sama) November 14, 2024In the past few months, however, the scaling hypothesis has come under significant fire. Some scientists believe scaling LLMs will never lead to AGI, and they believe that all of the extra power were feeding new models is no longer producing results. Instead, weve hit a scaling wall or scaling limit where large amounts of extra compute power and data are only producing small improvements in new models. Most of the scientists who participated in the AAAI study are on this side of the argument:The majority of respondents (76%) assert that scaling up current AI approaches to yield AGI is unlikely or very unlikely to succeed, suggesting doubts about whether current machine learning paradigms are sufficient for achieving general intelligence.Current large language models can produce very relevant and useful responses when things go well, but they rely on mathematic principles to do so. Many scientists believe we will need new algorithms that use reasoning, logic, and real-world knowledge to reach a solution if we want to progress closer to the goal of AGI. Heres one spicy quote on LLMs and AGI from a 2022 paper by Jacob Browning and Yann Lecun.A system trained on language alone will never approximate human intelligence, even if trained from now until the heat death of the universe.However, theres no real way to know who is right here not yet. For one thing, the definition of AGI isnt set in stone and not everyone is aiming for the same thing. Some people believe that AGI should produce human-like responses through human-like methods so they should observe the world around them and figure out problems in a similar way to us. Others believe AGI should focus more on correct responses than human-like responses, and that the methods they use shouldnt matter.In a lot of ways, however, it doesnt really matter which version of AGI youre interested in or if youre for or against the scaling hypothesis we still need to diversify our research efforts. If we only focus on scaling LLMs, well have to start over from zero if it doesnt work out, and we could fail to discover new methods that are more effective or efficient. Many of the scientists in this study fear that commercial AI and the hype surrounding it will slow down real progress but all we can do is hope that their concerns are dealt with and both branches of AI research can learn to coexist and progress together. Well, you can also hope that the AI bubble bursts and all of the AI-powered tech products disappear into irrelevance, if you prefer. Editors Recommendations

The next big thing in the field of artificial intelligence is Agentic AI, which is essentially an AI tool that can automate certain multi-step processes for users. For example, interacting with a web browser for tasks like booking tickets or ordering groceries.Amazon certainly sees a future in there. After giving a massive overhaul to Alexa and introducing a new Alexa+ assistant, the company has today announced a new AI agent called Nova Act. Amazon says Nova Act is designed to complete tasks in a web browser. Amazon wont be the first to reach this milestone, as few other AI companies have already attempted this vision.OpenAIs Operator is designed to handle the repetitive and mundane parts of web browsing on users behalf, such as filling out forms or placing online orders. The folks behind Opera browser are also building an Operator that can pull off something similar using natural language commands given by users.Recommended VideosIn Amazons case, the Nova Act AI agent has been built atop Nova, the companys own portfolio of foundation AI models that were announced a few months ago. It can break down multi-step workflows into smaller inputs, such as performing a search, adding items, checking out, or answering questions based on the on-screen activity. Based on internal tests, Amazons agentic AI tool is touted to perform better than rival products from OpenAI and Anthropic. The company says it is eying an accuracy level of over 90%, especially at browser-based tasks where AI tools often fail, such as pop-ups, drop-down menu interactions, and dates.Nova is currently in the research preview phase and has been offered to developers. Our dream is for agents to perform wide-ranging, complex, multi-step tasks like organizing a wedding or handling complex IT tasks to increase business productivity, says the company.Interestingly, the foundations of Nova Act have already been integrated within the Alexa+ framework. It allows the virtual assistant to browse the web on behalf of users and get chores done. Thats a massive bonus for Amazon when it comes to reaching an audience for the Nova Act tool.Access to Alexa+ is currently limited to Prime subscribers or those willing to pay a monthly fee for the next-gen assistant. Unlike the pricey agentic Operator from OpenAI, Amazon has a much bigger audience sitting with the right hardware at home to experiment with Alexa+ and the underlying Nova Act capabilities.Editors Recommendations

A near miss Europes first private launch company is learning to embrace failure "Today, we know twice as much about our launch system as yesterday before launch." Stephen Clark Mar 31, 2025 12:26 pm | 1 A fireball rises over Andya after the crash of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket. Credit: Isar Aerospace A fireball rises over Andya after the crash of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket. Credit: Isar Aerospace Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe first flight of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket didn't last long on Sunday. The booster's nine engines switched off as the rocket cartwheeled upside-down and fell a short distance from its Arctic launch pad in Norway, punctuating the abbreviated test flight with a spectacular fiery crash into the sea.If officials at Isar Aerospace were able to pick the outcome of their first test flight, it wouldn't be this. However, the result has precedent. The first launch of SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket in 2006 ended in similar fashion."Today, we know twice as much about our launch system as yesterday before launch," Daniel Metzler, Isar's co-founder and CEO, wrote on X early Monday. "Can't beat flight testing. Ploughing through lots of data now."Isar Aerospace, based in Germany, is the first in a crop of new European rocket companies to attempt an orbital launch. If all went according to plan, Isar's Spectrum rocket would have arced to the north from Andya Spaceport in Norway and reached a polar orbit.But officials knew there was only a low chance of reaching orbit on the first flight. For this reason, Isar did not fly any customer payloads on the Spectrum rocket, designed to deliver up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of payload mass to low-Earth orbit. Isar Aerospace's first Spectrum rocket climbs away from Andya Spaceport in Norway. Credit: Isar Aerospace/Brady Kenniston/NASASpaceflight.com Duck and coverThe launch began with liftoff from Andya Spaceport at 12:30 pm local time (6:30 am EDT, or 10:30 UTC). The rocket's nine engines, burning a mix of liquid propane and liquid oxygen, throttled up to generate more than 150,000 pounds (675 kilonewtons) of thrust as Spectrum began a vertical climb from the launch pad.The first visual sign of trouble appeared about 15 seconds later as the 92-foot-tall (28-meter) rocket started to wobble on its axis. The exhaust plume from Spectrum's main engines also appeared to oscillate, suggesting that the rocket's steering system was trying to keep it on track.After a brief struggle, the rocket lost control and somersaulted, the engines shut down, and the vehicle fell into the sea about 40 seconds after launch. With its propellant tanks nearly full, the rocket's impact created a brilliant fireball and mushroom cloud over the craggy snow-covered landscape of Andya, which means "island of the ducks" in Norwegian.There were no injuries, and Isar said its seaside launch pad was intact following the accident. This was the first orbital launch attempt from a launch pad in Western Europe.A livestream of the test flight provided by Isar and its media partner, NASASpaceflight.com, showed the Spectrum rocket as it lifted off and lost control but cut away before impact. The livestream ended a few moments later.Within a few hours, Isar and NASASpaceflight released several replays of the launch, including a drone view that captured the entirety of Spectrum's 40-second flight. This showed a degree of transparency other launch companies should emulate.You can watch a replay of the live launch webcast in the YouTube stream embedded here."Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success," Metzler said in a press release. "We demonstrated that we can not only design and build but also launch rockets. I could not be prouder of our entire team for working so hard over the past seven years to reach this important milestone."Metzler founded Isar Aerospace in 2018 with two classmates at Technical University of Munich. Isar is one of a half-dozen or so European launch startups that could fly their orbital-class rockets in the next couple of years. Of this group, Isar has raised the most money, reporting more than 400 million euros (about $430 million at today's exchange rates) of fundraising, primarily from venture capital sources.The European Space Agency, the German government, and the NATO Innovation Fund have also invested in Isar Aerospace. ESA and other institutions want to foster Europe's nascent private launch industry to offer an alternative to Arianespace, the continent's sole operational launch provider, which operates the Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets developed with billions of euros of government funding.Last week, ESA released a solicitation to industry for the European Launcher Challenge, the agency's first competition to award commercial service contracts to European launch companies. This is a step toward jumpstarting Europe's commercial launch industry, similar to the way NASA was the anchor customer for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft some 15 years ago. Isar Aerospace is one of the top contenders in the competition.In a post-flight press briefing, Isar officials said the company is building the second and third Spectrum rockets at its factory near Munich but didn't offer a timeline for when it might launch again. The launch site apparently escaped significant damage, which should help expedite Isar's recovery."Today, we laid the foundation to cater to the rising global demand for flexible satellite launch services. Now its time to analyze all data, learn, iterate, and be back on the launch pad as soon as possible," he said.Success or failure?Isar declared the launch a success in its public statements, but was it?As Metzler said Monday, Isar's engineers are chewing on oodles of data. With just 30 seconds of powered flight, the company has more information about the performance of its rocket than any other European launch provider, apart from Arianespace.And first flights are risky. By one common measure, around half of inaugural flights of new orbital-class rockets end prematurely, before they reach orbital velocity. The recent success rate of debut flights of privately developedrockets is even lower.That's why Isar didn't put a customer's satellite onboard the first Spectrum rocket. The "payload" on Sunday's launch was the data. It would have been more difficult to characterize the outcome of Sunday's flight in a favorable light if the rocket came crashing down directly on its launch pad. A rebuild of the launch site would have set Isar back by months or years. The Spectrum rocket's Flight Termination System cut thrust from its nine main engines after the vehicle lost control. Credit: Isar Aerospace/NASASpaceflight.com Officials from ESA offered words of support after Isar's first launch."A test flight is exactly that: a test to gather data, learn and improve," said Josef Aschbacher, ESA's director general, in a statement. "Everything Isar Aerospace achieved today is remarkable, and they will have lots of data to analyze. I applaud the teams for getting this far and I am confident that we will see the next Spectrum on the launch pad ready for test flight 2 liftoff soon."Robert Habeck, Germany's vice chancellor and economy minister, said Europe's "unhindered access to space is strategically crucial.""With the first launch of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket, Germany has impressively demonstrated that it is an important location for the development of innovative space technologies," Habeck wrote on LinkedIn. "The first flight provided important data and experience for the rocket's next flight... Isar Aerospace can and will make a decisive contribution to securing Europe's independent access to space!"The Spectrum rocket is the largest launch vehicle primarily built in Germany, supplanting the V-2 missile from World War II.In the last few months, European government officials have emphasized their desire to break free of relying on other countries for defense and space technology. Europe was a longtime customer for Russia's Soyuz rocket, but the partnership ended in 2022 with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Delays in the debut of the Ariane 6 rocket and failures with the smaller Vega rocket forced European governments to sign contracts with SpaceX to launch several scientific and security-related satellites. Daniel Metzler, co-founder and CEO of Isar Aerospace, speaks at an event in Munich on January 12, 2024. Credit: Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images Metzler, Isar's chief executive, was asked last year what he would consider a successful inaugural flight of Spectrum."For me, the first flight will be a success if we dont blow up the launch site," he said at the Handelsblatt innovation conference. "That would probably be the thing that would set us back the most in terms of technology and time."This tempering of expectations sounds remarkably similar to statements made by Elon Musk about SpaceX's first flight of the Starship rocket in 2023.By this measure, Isar officials can be content with Sunday's result. The company is modeling its test strategy on SpaceX's iterative development cycle, where engineers test early, make fixes, and fly again. This is in stark contrast to the way Europe has traditionally developed rockets. The alternative to Isar's approach could be to "spend 15 years researching, doing simulations, and then getting it right the first time," Metzler said.With the first launch of Spectrum, Isar has tested the rocket. Now, it's time to make fixes and fly again. That, Isar's leaders argue, will be the real measure of success."Were super happy," Metzler said in a press call after Sunday's flight. "Its a time for people to be proud of, and for Europe, frankly, also to be proud of."Stephen ClarkSpace ReporterStephen ClarkSpace Reporter Stephen Clark is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the worlds space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet. 1 Comments

An observer hiding inside a black hole can eavesdrop on quantum objects outside itvan van/ShutterstockQuantum eavesdropping is possible across a black holes event horizon, one of the most impermeable cosmic boundaries at least in one direction.Daine Danielson at the University of Chicago, Illinois, wanted to know how the structure of space-time, the fabric of our reality, influences quantum objects. This led him and his colleagues to a thought experiment where two people, Alice and Bob, end up separated by one of space-times most extreme objects.

Trading in a Tesla? There's a new TikTok trend for that.People are posting before-and-after videos of their Tesla trade-ins accompanied by the hashtag "ByeTesla" and Taylor Swift's 2017 hit, "Look What You Made Me Do."As with most viral TikTok trends, the posts mostly follow a similar format. They show a driver backing out of their garage or driveway in their Tesla as the lyrics play: "I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, 'cause she's dead." @drewherridge1 Bye Tesla, hello Rivian!#rivian #fyp #tesla #tesler Original Sound - Unknown Then, the video cuts to the driver pulling up in a new, non-Tesla car to the song's chorus of "Look what you made me do." @shkimmy Got rid of my #tesler today!!! Girl, bye! Hello to my new Porsche Macan 4S EV. #byetesla #byeelon #newcar #ev #lookwhatyoumademedo Original Sound - Unknown Rivian seems to be a popular choice among some of the EV switchers. Several of the videos show Tesla owners opting for a vehicle from the California-based EV maker, such as the Rivian R1S, which starts at around $75,900.Other videos show owners swapping in their Teslas for other EVs, like a Porsche Macan Electric or a Lexus. @vanessawade_ Bye bye Tesla #tesla #byetesla #cadillacescaladeiq @Cadillac #lookwhatyoumademedo Original Sound - Unknown "The Tesla sales managers seem so defeated," one of the users who posted a video wrote in the caption about the reaction of Tesla sales staffers hearing about why the owners decided to sell their vehicle and cancel their Model Y order. Their video featured a digitally imposed "Fk Elon" message over their license plate.Another userposteda video trading in their Cybertruck for a GMC Hummer EV SUV, which starts at about $98,845, compared to the Cybertruck, which starts at about $99,990. The user wrote in the caption "Change is GOOD-when your principles/morals are important."The trend seems to have ramped up a few days ago, with many of the #ByeTesla TikToks posted on Sunday and Monday. The posts followed the biggest day yet oforganized anti-Tesla protests on Saturday when more than 200 demonstrations were scheduled to take place outside Tesla showrooms.The gatherings on Saturday were part of "Tesla Takedown," which describes itself as a "peaceful protest movement" that began in February amid Elon Musk's DOGE involvement. The movement has held protests all over the country, as well as in some locations globally.The "ByeTesla" TikTok trend, however, is further evidence that some Tesla owners are making the decision to sell their vehicles.Some owners have told BI they sold their Teslas recently following Musk's political involvement with DOGE, with some saying they were concerned about becoming targets of harassment or vandalism, and others sharing with BI that they felt embarrassed to be seen driving them.Data also suggests that calls to boycott the brand and offload vehicles are impacting Tesla's sales numbers.Tesla delivery numbers reported by multiple countries have been down in recent months across multiple countries. Wall Street analysts are also expecting weak first-quarter delivery numbers when Tesla reports its official tally later this week.Used Tesla listings have risen by 33% this year, according to data from Cox Automotive, with one industry expert attributing the trend in part to Musk's influence on the brand name and sales. However, listings for other EVs have also increased by 27% year-to-date and some have also suggested that the increase in Tesla's used EV market is partly a result of its aging lineup.While some are selling their Teslas, others are holding on to their shares and vehicles and buying more in light of backlash against Tesla. One owner recently told BI that after experiencing harassment and vandalism while driving his Cybertruck in a Mardi Gras parade, he decided to buy an additional 185 Tesla shares.Do you work at a Tesla showroom? Contact the reporter via a non-work email at aaltchek@businessinsider.com or on Signal at aalt.19.